Organizational Approaches for Managing Mid-Career Personnel

• DOI: 10.1177/009102609502400307
• Date: 01 September 1995
• Author: Stephen L. Williams,Charles J. Fox
• Published date: 01 September 1995
• Subject Matter: Article

Organizational Approaches

For

Managing

Mid-Career

Personnel

-

There is a growingconcem about the ramifications of significant restructuring of the workforce

in the next century. While there has been considerable attention given to the education,

training, and motivation of

new

workers, less attention has been given to parts of the existing

~orkforce,

particularly mid-career personnel. As the average age of the workforce steadily

Increases and attrition reduces the number of qualified workers, there will be a growing need

for innovative methods of keeping experienced and knowledgeable personnel productive.

Thisresource can beinvaluable for maintaining organizational productivity as well asmeeting

the challenges of the next century. Characteristics of the mid-career worker and possible

organization strategies for managing this resource are presented. In the end, it is realized that

the solution to this personnel management issue will require multiple approaches.

By

Stephen L. Williams

Charles J.Fox

StephenL. Williams (MS,

1973;MA, 1975,Texas Tech

University), is an Adjunct

Professor In the graduate

program for museum sciences

at Texas Tech University. He

researches

human

resource

managementand

demographic changesof

personnelIn public,

non-profitorganizations, such

as museums. He has

published and presented

scholarly papers through a

variety of national and

Intemational professional

sodeties related to the

museum field.

In the next decade, American productivity

and

the ability to compete

in

an

international market will be adversely affected by labor shortages

and

an

aging workforce. The anticipated labor shortages are explained by

simple demographics. After the baby-boom, the mid-1970s were featured

by having the lowest birthrate (14.6 newborns

per

1,000 people) in U. S.

history; the prelude to the labor shortage is represented with 1992having

the smallest high-school graduating class in the past three decades.1

It

is

expected that the growth of the 1990s workforce will be

about

one-third of

that

of the 1970s,

and

it is feared that the

new

workforce

may

lack

many

basic skills

needed

for the future job market.2, 3 To

compound

the problem

of projected labor shortages, the baby-boomers from the 1950srepresent an

aging workforce. By the year 2000,the average age of the American

worker

will be 39 years.4

As individuals reach the mid-career stage of their life, several factors

acting in concert

tend

to alter personal needs, values,

and

ultimately per-

fth . b 5,6, 7, 8, 9 F . t b I . h kf .

ormance on e

joo.

or

111S

ance, a so escence

111

t e wor orce

IS

amajor concern of individuals

and

organizations. As technology

and

knowledge proliferate, the "half-life" of one'seffective career is significantly

dttl 1 ,12 F id k hi

reduce.

'

ormanyml

-career

war

ers,reac 111r,astageofnofurther

advancement, or "plateauing" is a serious concern.P: 1 ,15 Finally, the social

attitude toward older workers is reflected in the

need

for federal laws to

prevent discrimination against individuals

between

the ages of 40

and

70

years (Age Discrimination in Employment Act, 1967

with

1978 Amend-

ment). With these factors influencing the lives of mid-career workers, it is

not

unusual to observe performance evaluations

dropping

after the age of

40.16 In spite of the dismal outlook for mid-career personnel in the job

market, some authorsl7, 18 view the older members of the workforce to be a

Public Personnel Management Volume 24

No.3

(Fall. 1995) 351